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Home My WebLink About01/21/10 - City Council Newsletter EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER January 21, 2010 City of Eugene 777 Pearl Street, Room 105 Eugene, Oregon 97401-2793 (541) 682-5010 (541) 682-5414 (FAX) www.eugene-or.gov IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION CITY BOOTH TAPS INTO EARTH-SMART TIPS ARCHAEOLOGY AT THE LIBRARY COUNCIL GOALS SESSION SATURDAY HELPED BY EUGENE COUNTS SURVEY EUGENE COUNTS OFFERS VIVID SNAPSHOT OF WHAT RESIDENTS WANT FOR EUGENE COMMUNITY SURVEY REVEALS VIEWS ON SERVICES, ECONOMY, SAFETY AND DOWNTOWN SPLASH DANCES PROVIDE FUN FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS AROUND THE CITY City Booth Taps into Earth-Smart Tips “Tap into green wisdom” is the focus of a City of Eugene information booth at this year's Good Earth Home, Garden and Living Show, scheduled at the Lane County Fairgrounds, January 22 - 24. The booth is a collaborative effort between the Public Works Stormwater Management Program, and Planning and Development’s Solid Waste and Green Building Program. Attendees who stop by booth #510 will learn more about using leaves, low-flow devices, waste prevention reminders, and other “green tips” for home and outdoors. In addition to booth #510, the City of Eugene and OSU Extension Service in Lane County are providing information on backyard composting, worm bin composting and compost tea in booth #624. Visitors who pledge to make at least one earth-friendly behavioral change will receive an earth-smart giveaway item such as a reusable shopping bag, coupons for discounted stainless steel water bottles from Down To Earth, or a ”Grow Smart, Grow Safe” booklet. For more information, contact Stormwater Information Specialist Kathy Eva at 541-682-2739 or kathy.a.eva@ci.eugene.or.us or go to www.eugene-or.gov/happyrivers. Archaeology at the Library Archaeologist Dr. Barbara Burrell will take her audience on a fascinating trip into antiquity with a free, illustrated talk, “Marble and Messages at Ephesos,” on Thursday, January 28, 6 p.m., at the Eugene Downtown Public Library. Dr. Burrell’s presentation explores the architecture and inscriptions at a particular crossroads in Ephesos (Turkey) where Hellenic and Roman cultures intersected over the course of hundreds of years. A specialist in ancient texts, she has taught and participated in field work around the globe, including as field director of the team that discovered King Herod's Palace. Her visit is co-sponsored by the Eugene chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America and the University of Oregon, Classics Department. For more information, contact the Eugene Public Library at 541-682-5450 or www.eugene-or.gov/library. Council Goals Session Saturday Helped by Eugene Counts Survey The upcoming council goals session on Saturday, January 23, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the McNutt Room at City Hall, will give the council the opportunity to identify a set of three to five concrete outcomes or results under each of their five high-level goals (Safe Community, Sustainable Development, Accessible and Thriving Culture and EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 January 21, 2010 Recreation, Effective, Accountable Municipal Government, and Fair, Stable and Adequate Financial Resources). This effort will help guide what gets focused on in the coming year, and lead to a more transparent way of tracking and communicating progress toward achieving the community’s goals. Informing the council’s work will be the results of the Eugene Counts effort, along with the just-released 2009 Eugene Community Survey and the results of other recent surveys and public input processes. This information will help to keep the goals and outcomes the City will be working toward, closely tied to community values and priorities. For more information, contact Terrie Monroe at terrie.e.monroe@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5412. Eugene Counts Offers Vivid Snapshot of What Residents Want for Eugene Eugene Counts’ public engagement phase used a broad-based approach, including workshops, discussions, and interviews and surveys, to develop a clearer picture of the concrete results the community would like to achieve. Using a talk-to-people-on-their-own-turf approach allowed the City to hear broadly from different segments of the community; while some community members are comfortable coming to a council meeting to testify, many are interested in communicating in other ways and settings. Thus, Eugene Counts listened to people where they feel most comfortable—in parks, at community events and gatherings ranging from the Saturday Market to Duck football tailgates, in their homes via quick- and long-version web surveys, at neighborhood- and school-based meetings, even on Facebook, where some community members feel far more at home than they would in a formal City meeting. This approach yielded a vivid snapshot of what was on the minds of the community members who participated this summer and fall, and a rich source of information on the results people most want for Eugene. The Eugene Counts public engagement process asked 1,000 community members to spontaneously identify the top results or outcomes they wanted related to each of the five council goals. While each goal was treated in isolation, several outcomes were echoed across multiple goals; those issues were so salient that they were deemed relevant to several diverse topics. Downtown, public safety, jobs and economic development, and support for alternative transportation modes crossed multiple council goals. The most frequently mentioned outcomes for each goal were: Safe Community People feel safe walking Visible police presence Decreased crime (especially property crime) Offenders kept locked up Sustainable Development More jobs Infill/compact development Thriving downtown Help small or local businesses Accessible and Thriving Accessible to all incomes Already great Culture and Recreation Support local arts Variety of programming Cater to broad tastes Effective, Accountable More responsive Greater transparency Municipal Government Serve all equally Better public engagement More effective communication Fair, Stable and Adequate Prioritize spending (including public safety, infrastructure) New revenue sources Financial Resources Everyone pays fair share Greater transparency Economic development EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 January 21, 2010 For more information about Eugene Counts, see http://eugene-or.gov/EugeneCounts or contact Terrie Monroe at terrie.e.monroe@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5412. Community Survey Reveals Views on Services, Economy, Safety and Downtown The annual Eugene Community Survey was conducted by Advanced Marketing Research during November and December. A total of 400 respondents were surveyed about their perceptions of the community and City of Eugene services. Below is a discussion of some of this year’s findings. More than four out of five respondents (82%) report being very or somewhat satisfied with the overall level of City services. When respondents were asked to rate the quality of individual City services, the library topped the list with 87% deeming it “above average,” followed closely by the bikeway system (86%). City parks were most frequently mentioned (91%) when respondents were asked which services they or their families had used in the last year, followed by the library (79%), airport (71%) and the Hult Center (66%). It is important to note when looking at the quality ratings that respondents have varying levels of exposure to the different services, so these are perceptions offered by users and non-users alike. Taking the ratings for each service in the context of reported levels of usage helps make the information more meaningful. Echoing national trends, perceptions about economic opportunity in Eugene have deteriorated dramatically over the last two years, with more than half (51%) of respondents saying they felt their economic opportunity had worsened, up by a third over 2008 (38%) and more than double those who felt their economic opportunity was worse in the 2007 survey (23%). Support for the City taking an active role in assisting businesses to increase economic opportunity has increased over that same two-year period, though the intensity of support varies depending on which specific strategy is being discussed. Nearly nine out of 10 respondents (89%) advocate the City providing problem-solving help with siting, permit and development issues and 84% want the City to take an active role in helping local businesses create and retain jobs. Respondents also supported helping outside companies locate in Eugene (75%) and providing tax incentives to businesses creating new jobs (66%). While fewer respondents supported the idea of providing help with road, sewer and utility costs (59%) and providing financial support to businesses in targeted areas such as downtown (58%), both strategies have seen considerable increases in support since 2007. The level of comfort people feel about walking alone after dark varies depending on location. People report a greater sense of safety walking in their neighborhoods over the past two years, with 96% of respondents reporting that they feel very or somewhat safe walking alone in their neighborhoods after dark compared to 89% in 2008, and 83% in 2007. The trend headed the opposite direction when respondents were asked about business areas. Almost a third fewer (65%) said they feel very or somewhat safe walking alone in business areas after dark, consistent with 65% in 2008, and down significantly from 76% in 2007. Downtown is a growing concern for many. Only a quarter (25%) of respondents said they were very or somewhat satisfied with downtown as it is today, compared to 33% in 2008. To view the 2009 Eugene Community Survey results, go to http://www.eugene-or.gov/CityHall. For more information, contact Terrie Monroe at terrie.e.monroe@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-682-5412. Splash Dances Provide Fun for Middle School Students Recreation’s aquatics program will hold another of its popular Splash Dances from 7:45 - 9:45 p.m. on January 22, at Echo Hollow Pool. Approximately 200 middle school students typically attend the dances that feature live music witha D.J. and swimming with only the underwater lights on in the pool. There are also dance competitions to provide a fun-packed evening for youth in a chaperoned and safe environment. For more information, call Rich Fay at 541-682-5525. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 January 21, 2010